CSM101

I just wanted to ask, if you see something like that very often. A new pair of silver menuki with gems for eyes and a passport confirming that. For me it is very unusual. Never heard of it before. But I live close to siberia and maybe that´s why... Uwe G. And just to drive you crazy: Goto?

Thank you all for your answers. Maybe one day I will be hit by a truck. And when I lay in hospital I look trough the Haynes-Index. But only then... Oh, I forgot my running gag: Mino-Goto???

This is very possible. Because all parts match each other. Some more pics... And thank you Uwe G.

Once again I feel very helpless. I have signed kurigata and I can´t find the kanji. I count seven strokes and then it is maybe a KUNI. But what does that mean then? I hope you can can help me with the correct translation. Thank you Uwe G.

So, here is a photo from the koshirae as a whole. I assume it belonged to a high-ranking samurai. The koshirae seems to be pre 1800. Even if there a many, many Suzukis, I think that there is one family that it could have belonged to. Here we have many, many Quandts. But only one family, that owns BMW. I know, it is a little bit stubborn. But I try it and hope for the best. Uwe G.

10 million. Oh! Well, the headline says it all. Uwe G.

Hi, I know, that the information I want is almost impossible to get. But this is the NMB and perhaps a miracle is just around the corner... You can see part of a tsuba with mon. According to an expert this is the mon of the Suzuki-family (?). So, are there still some members of the family existing and can I get in touch with them? And by the way: Goto??? Thank you Uwe G.

Last weekend I visited a friend and he showed me his newest sword. It is just a piece of steel (gimei) but the koshirae is very nice. We discussed it and he thinks, this is Goto. For me, it looks more like Higo Kinko. But in the end, we will be both wrong. Because we both have no knowledge about kodogu. And so,maybe it is just GoTo-hell-with-that-crap. I post here the photos and I hope someone can tell me, what it is and why it is, what it is. I will just post the tsuba, If you need more photos, please, let me know. Thank you Uwe G.

Gentlemen! Once again I am very impressed about the very fast and helpful response. Thank you very much! Uwe G.

Hi, this time I really tried to solve the puzzle. I used the kanjis here, Langenscheidt´s Japanese Kanji and Kana and Warnecke´s Japanese-German Kanji Lexika. But I could not find the kanji´s here. And so I am really confused and I don´t know, what the signature says. "Analog iTsuba", "Train Station" or maybe "Lethal Ninja Disc"? I have no idea. Please, help me with my confusion. Thank you! Uwe G.

Photo Stacking. Well, this is a very long and very hard way. And mostly because it takes time Trial and error. Just like panorama but with more chances to fail. But I know, that the results are phantastic. To see how it´s done go to youtube. This is a very good one but it is in german: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF2jFgT6r70 Sometimes it just needs a little bit playing with white balance and brightness. I took a photo from Veli´s Masahiro for that. Hope, I will see your photos very soon. Greetings Uwe G.

Thank you very much for the light! I think, it could be Ichiju; Haynes 1709. It would be nice to know the rest of the tale written on the backside. Uwe G.

I hope this one looks better. I only have 2 pics from the signature. Thank you Uwe G.

Hi, here is another kozuka. And with so many kanji that it seems to me that this is Harry Potter III. Can someone please help me with a translation? Thank you Uwe G.

Hello gentlemen, here is another beautiful kozuka. Unfortuneately it is not signed but has a golden seal on it. And I have no idea, what that means. So, if you have informations about the seal and eventually about the maker I would be very happy, when you share your infos with me. Thanks Uwe G.

SORRY!!!! I forgot to sign. Uwe G.

I just saw the blade today. Naotane =

Hi Steve, the photo is almost perfect and I could not do very much. I hope the experts here can tell you more about it. Enjoy it Uwe G.

Hi Hoanh and Matt, this one will take a while, but I hope, it will help you and others in the end. First the camera: very good! Nikon, Canon or Sony are the three big ones and with one of them you are on the right side. I have a Sony Alpha 500. And because Sony bought Minolta, I have all the old Minolta objectives and I use, whatever I need. Mostly a Minolta 28-85. But I have an 50/1.7 too. And that´s very good too. And for all the others here: NEVER EVER use the cameras in your iphone and mobile! First of all, you have to understand the technical aspect. A DSLR can only make a low dynamic range photo. The human eye has a dynamic range up to 1.5 Mio when you look on a sunny day into a cellar. A DSLR has a dynamic range from about 2.000, and a very good one maybe a dynamic range up to 5.000. That´s, why High Dynamic Range was invited. Photographers wanted to see in the photo what they saw in reality. And now, we start the lesson. It doesn´t matter, how good your camera is! You have to develop a digital photo. First of all: I think, that you only work with JPEG. But this is wrong. You should try RAW. Your camera has all the RAW-data. And with a RAW-converter you can easily make all the details visible. You can use the converter that came with the camera or Camera Raw. And this is in Photoshop CS *. Or Lightroom. You can use brightness, clarity, saturation, contrast and most important: dynamic! When you think, you have a bad photo, then you should read and try what Scott Kelby has written in "The magnificent 7" Very good and easy to learn. Next point: you have to improve your skills. Especally with Photoshop. If you only have Elements, then you will never get what you want. You need layers, masks, curves and filters. And this is only in the Big Brother. But it costs a fortune. When your photo has an yellow tone (or blue, red or green), there is white balance. And suddenly you have the correct colours. Later you can use curves for the details. Try it. The outcome will be magnificent. And now something complete different... SWORDS! Nowadays there are only two photographers, who make a decent photo from a blade. Ron Bingham and Fujishiro-san. I know, what Ron Bingham does and I don´t like it, because it is a very easy way. And I know, what Fujishiro-san does and I really, really like it. And I cannot repeat it, because he makes it the analog-way! But to give some figures: for a very good photo he makes between 800 and 1.000 shots. The distance should be 40 cm. At least the photo should be sharp in the details. When you are too close, the photo is out of focus. Normal daylight is more than enough. I always see photos, where only a short part is visible and then comes only white, because of flashlights, bulbs and other things. The Japanese sword dealers use a scanner for instance. In the members area you can find a very, very good article how to use a scanner. But a scanner has it´s limits. And then the sword. If you have a boring blade so will be the photos. The Masao I enjoyed. And I took about 500 shots. 480 of them very plain s**t. Sorry about that, but if you could see them, you would say the same. 20 were outstanding. And I could work with them. See above. But two months ago I had an Yamato Daijo Fujiwara Masanori at home. And after 30 shots I skipped, because the blade as a whole is boring. Or not very delightfull. And without interesting details. Okay, I knew a dealer, who added some details in the blades he sold. Such as kinsuji, chikei, an interesting hada and so on...But I hope this is not, what you want. For a better understanding you should post a photo here and then I can give you the details and what to do. Greetings Uwe G.

Hi, we discusted it already: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10640 Hope, the link will work. Otherwise look for "Help us improve our photos". Greetings Uwe G.

Hi, I can only make the explanation with the tang. The reason comes later. What really makes me wonder are the edges of the holes. For a better explanation I added a photo from a blade same age (Sue-Koto). They are too sharp in certain areas (red and green arrow). And that only happens, when you drill a hole. The holes are very roundish. And they don´t look hammered. And if the blade is Sue-Koto, then at least one hole should look like as one in the tang from the real Ujifusa. In the yellow area the rust doesn´t look right either. The tang is ubu and untouched. No machiokuri. I know, that this blade is not gendai. No doubt about it. But it isn´t Sue-Koto either. Then once again, the description. A polisher saw the blade and it is not a big deal to polish the blade. And what else did he say? Could he confirm, that this is a blade from Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa, first generation? Instead of that, you get infos from Harry Afu. It is not guarantied, that the sword is from him. Juyo status: just guessing. And then I made a little bit C.S.I. Wladiwostok with the photos from the blade. The seller uses a Fujifilm FinePix S2800HD and Photoshop Elements 10. I start with white balance, brightness and colour correction. Maybe one or two filters. And after that I can see hidden details, that are in the photo but no one is busy enough to make them visible. But here I can do whatever I want, there are no hidden details. And this is not because of the old polish. Fuji-photos always tended to be more green. And I have seen at least 1.500 photos taken by a Fujifilm FinePix S2800HD. And you never see the blade as a whole. The seller lives in Hawaii. And here I start to imagine Beach Bunnies, Magnum with Higgins with my Ferrari and a LOT of sun. But all the photos are too dark. No exception. Please, go out and make a photo in the sun with your camera and tell me then, if the picture is too dark. And 5 photos of the blade are out of focus. But the Kiss of Death is the return policy. Assume you buy the blade and you find out, that this blade is not Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa, first generation. You can not return the blade, because it is not guarantied, that this is Wakasa nop Kami Ujifusa, first generation. It is inscribed Ujifusa and the blade needs a polish. Nothing else. I know, that you as a private seller can add this no-return-policy to an article you want to sell. But only as a private person. The seller has more than 3.200 feedbacks. Are you a private person then? But as I always claim: you are all adults, you can go alone to the toilet (at least I hope so). And so you can make your own decisions. Maybe I am unfair... Okay: I am unfair. But so is the seller. There are infos missing, that should be in the description right from the start. But once again: maybe I am wrong! If you buy the blade and it get´s a decent polish with papers Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa first generation and perhaps even juyo I will apologize deeply. And as part of the reparation I will run naked with a peacock feather in my... whatever... through Vienna. Or Salzburg, if that is better. But I hope that you dont pay at least 12.500 Dollar just to see something disgusting like that. This is just my opinion. You are all adults... Greetings Uwe G.

Hello Klaus, Okay, first I will post the photos and then comes the explanation. Uwe G.

Hi, when I play a little bit with the pics you can see, that all 3 holes in the tang are drilled. The rust doesn´t look right. And for a real Ujifusa I added another pic. I think that a third of the price would be okay. But maybe I am wrong. Greetings Uwe G.

At first sight I thought: gendai! Uwe G.

Hello Steve, sorry to tell you, but even with the best programms I cannot make any details visible. Please, try to get closer. The outcome doesn´t matter. I can work with it. Here is a result from me. Greetings Uwe G.